


Without Her

by xoxoMisha



Series: Without Her [1]
Category: Once Upon a Time (TV)
Genre: F/F, Mentions of Aurora, Mentions of Prince Philip
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-10-10
Updated: 2014-10-10
Packaged: 2018-02-20 14:33:11
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 942
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2432264
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/xoxoMisha/pseuds/xoxoMisha
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The year and a half without Aurora was painful. Mulan desperately wanted to believe she could forget her, but you can never forget the face of your true love. Set after Mulan left, this is Mulan's journey without Aurora.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Without Her

**Author's Note:**

> This is chapter one of Without Her. Aurora isn't directly here yet, but she will be. I hope you like it, I'll try to update as much as I can if I get enough praise. Enjoy!

“What was the real reason you joined me?”

The question always repeated in Fa Mulan’s mind. She knew the reason, but she wasn’t going to tell Robin. Her attraction wasn’t uncommon, but she knew he wouldn’t understand. That, or she just didn’t trust him enough. She may have trusted him to protect her when in combat, but to allow him to see her vulnerable?

Mulan just shook her head. Her reply was always the same.

“You needn't know.”

And he didn’t. Mulan had established that from the start that their relationship would mean nothing more than the hunt. As she scraped her dagger against the wooden stick that would soon be a spear, Mulan looked up at one of the men stampeding intoxicated through the forest they set camp upon. Through the roaring fire, he looked like Prince Philip. The warrior bit her cheek and stared down at the spear she was making, her hand gripped tightly to it as she swallowed the bitter metallic taste in her mouth. She wished she thought of him with disdain. Aurora always said how she was scared of her marriage, how she wished things hadn’t been so rushed. But Mulan knew Philip was a good man, even if she had to be fixing his mistakes.

The way he spoke of Aurora helped her fall in love.

Falling for her wasn’t intentional, but the joy on Aurora’s face when she found out she was pregnant convinced Mulan to take Robin’s offer. She’d rather live among thieves than pretend to be content in a castle. Be it what she may, she may have lied, stolen, and killed (for _survival_ , she wasn’t a monster. Just practical.) but Mulan was honorable. She wouldn’t ruin a family. She had more to do than settle with a woman, an _irritating_ woman who would swell with pregnancy and be even more irksome. A woman who scrunched her nose up at the sight of blood and always fussed with Mulan’s black hair falling in front of her face.

A woman she loved.

The warrior sighed and looked away from the void in the horizon that matched her mood. She felt Robin’s eyes on her so she turned her head and snapped. “What is it? All of your men stare at me, if you start I will run you through.” Was it too harsh? Of course. But she wanted to be alone, not stared at as if she were a puzzle piece.

Robin shook his head and smiled into the fire. “My apologies, you know how men are.”

“Barbaric? Yes. But that doesn’t excuse their pathetic actions. Have none of them known a woman before?” She spat out before gripping at the spear. _“What is it?”_

“It most certainly does not. If you cut off one of their appendages I’m sure they’ll take you seriously. You seemed troubled. I think I should be asking you that question.” Robin stared with a crease in his eyebrows, a perplexed expression wearing his worn face. The day had been hard, the weather was growing bitterly cold-just like Mulan.

Mulan considered the thief’s offer. The men were like his brothers but Mulan didn’t care much for anyone in the troop except Robin, but even then their relationship was straining. Pressing her lips together thinly, Mulan’s eyes narrowed into tiny slits as she refrained from glaring at Robin. “We had an agreement. My troubles are my own just as yours belong to you.” She grumbled as she took the last of the scrapes from her tin cup, placing it in her mouth to give her an excuse not to respond for a bit. “Besides, you won’t understand.” She left it that when she finally spoke again, not wanting to press on further. She’d rather be left alone to sleep so she could finally be with Aurora in her dreams.

Robin raised an eyebrow and scoffed under his breath. “These men are my brothers and you’re apart of the family whether you like it or not. We may have had an agreement but that doesn’t mean I won’t worry.” He cared, Mulan had helped him in many ways and he thought he had helped her. But the way she had been acting, it made him feel guilty. It seemed as if he didn’t help her after all.

“Well _stop it!”_ Mulan shouted, ignoring the rising heat on her cheeks as the men stared at her. It had been one day, she was still raw from the open wound of rejection. She could handle so much worse but with time. “Forgive me if I wish to be alone.” She told him, grabbing her things to sulk elsewhere. Her boots stomped in the dirt, walking farther away from camp and the voices of the drunken thieves laughter until the sight was a blur and the sounds were distant. Throwing her spear and sword onto the ground, Mulan pressed her back against the thick bark of the tree behind her. Charcoal eyes shut tightly, she pictured the heart shaped face of Aurora, Aurora who was smiling at her, who was looking prideful when Mulan gave the princess her heart back. Aurora who could never be hers.

A sound escaped her lips that sounded like a painful wheeze. It was only the first day. The gaping hole would close, or she would be numb. She’d fall in love again, or she’d become cold and distant. The choice was up to her and her alone, she’d apologize to Robin for her outburst and continue with their hunt. She would move on somehow, yet now wasn’t going to be the night.

It was only day one.

 

 


End file.
